Four hundred years ago some English people sailed to North America to live there, and they brought the English language to this new country.. After that same people from all the countrie[r]
(1)Read the following passage carefully, and then answer the question below Exercise
English is the language of the people of England in the south of the island of Great Britain In the north of this island lies Scotland To the west of England is Wales The island of Ireland lies to the west of Great Britain More than a thousand years ago the people who lived in these four countries were different, and they spoke different languages Great Britain is not a large country It is much smaller than France or Norway and smaller than Finland England is the largest part of Britain and it has always been the strongest Today the official name of Great Britain is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland English is the official language in all parts of the country
In the United States of America English is called the national language, the language of the American nation Four hundred years ago some English people sailed to North America to live there, and they brought the English language to this new country After that same people from all the countries of Europe came and they learned English, but they made it a little different from British English In the USA now people speak American English Many words are the same in American and in British English, but the American people not speak the English language in the same way as people in England
1 Which part of Great Britain is the largest?
……… What is the official language in Great Britain?
……… What is the national language in the United States of America?
……… Who brought the English language to America?
……… Exercise
Some Of The World's Smallest Countries
One of the smallest countries in the world is San Marino, a republic high in the mountains of Italy It is also the oldest, because it was founded some 1,500 years ago San Marino covers 61 square kilometers and has over 17 thousand people San Marino coins and stamp are eagerly bought by collectors
One of the popular small countries in the stamp album is Andora, the mountain state of 11 thousand people which is high in the Pyrenees, between France and Spain Anyone who collects the stamps of Andora soon notices a strange thing about them Some stamps are printed in Spain and have values in Francs of Centimes and their inscriptions is in French
The reason for this lies in Andora's history For nearly 700 years the little state has been under the joint protection of France and Spain, and these two countries have separate postal services in Andora In the chief village of Andora the Spanish and the French post-offices stand near each other but sell different stamps
1 Where is San Marino situated?
……… And where is Andora situated?
……… What is a strange thing about stamps in Andora?
……… Why are there postal services of both Spain and France in Andora?
(2)5 What are some of the things that are similar in San Marino and in Andora? ……… Exercise
Computers: Good Or Bad
For good or bad, computers are now part of our daily life With the price of a small home computer now as low as $50, experts predict that before long all schools and businesses and most families in the richer parts of the world will own a computer of some kind Among general public, computers arouse strong feelings People either love them or hate them
The computer-lovers talk about how useful computers can be in business, in education and in the home Apart from all games, you can on them, your accounts on them, learn languages from them, write letters on them, and in some places even your shopping with them Computers, they say will also bring more leisure, as more and more unpleasant jobs are taken over by computerized robots
The latter, on the other hand, argue that computers bring not leisure but unemployment They worry, too that people who spend all the time talking to computers will forget how to talk to each other Their biggest fear is that computers may eventually take over from human being altogether
1 What experts predict?
……… What feeling computers arouse among people?
……… Give one argument against computers
……… What is the biggest fear of the computer haters?
……… Would you like to have a computer? Why (not)?
……… Exercise
The Importance of Plants
Man has always depended on plants for food and many other useful products For this reason, farming is one of the world's most important industries At first, early man did not know how to plant seeds and raise crops He gathered wild fruits and vegetables where he found them Then man discovered how to grow his own food He planted seeds and waited for the crop to grow For the first time, he could be reasonably sure of his food supply He could settle down and build shelters in the places where he grew food
As populations began to increase, the demand for food became greater Old-fashioned tools and farming methods were inefficient in meeting the demand, so man cultivated more and more land and invented complicated machines to make his work easier
Tractors replaced horses and other farm animals Scientists studied and experimented with plants, they told farmers how to control plant diseases, and how to grow bigger and better crops Now one man, with a knowledge of plants and the help of machines, can cultivate hundreds of acres He can raise plants which did not originally grow in the soil or climate of his community
(3)……… When did man start to settle down and build shelters in particular places? ……… What has man used to make his work in the fields easier?
……… Why are scientists always experimenting with plants?
……… Exercise
One year Miss Wyatt decided to have a holiday in Italy She did not speak much Italian, but wherever she went, she was fortunate enough to find people who knew enough English to be able to understand what she wanted, until one day she decided to have lunch in a charming little restaurant in a village in the south of Italy
She had seen some nice mushroom in the market of another village near there and thought they would taste very good, so when the waiter came to take her order for lunch, she inquired whether she could have some mushrooms for her meal, but she had great difficulty in explaining to him, because she did not know the Italian word for mushrooms At last she took out a pencil and drew a picture of a mushroom The waiter's face brightened at once, and he hastened out to the kitchen A minute later he returned, carrying an umbrella
1 Why did the poorness of Miss Wyatt's knowledge of Italian not interfere with her enjoyment of her holiday most of the time?
……… Where did she have trouble in making herself understood?
……… Why did she think she would like some mushrooms?
……… How did she try to show the waiter what she wanted?
……… Why did he bring her an umbrella?
……… Exercise
Season's Greetings
Christmas is the biggest festival of the year in most of Britain Celebrations start properly on 24 December, Christmas Eve, although there have been several weeks of preparation beforehand The Christmas tree and all the presents, food, drinks, and decorations have been bought Christmas cards have already been sent to friends and relations About a week before Christmas, people usually put up their decorations the Christmas tree with lights, various coloured decorations and an angel on the top Family presents are usually put under the tree
Christmas Day is the biggest day of the holiday On the Christmas morning (often very early!), children open the presents that were in their sacks Some families go to church The traditional Christmas dinner consists of roast turkey with potatoes and various other vegetables This is followed by Christmas pudding - a dark, rich mixture of flour, fruit, sugar, nuts, and brandy Before the dinner people usually pull crackers - small rolls of paper that have gifts, jokes, and party hats inside Needless to say, large quantities of beer, wine, and spirits are also drunk
1 What is the 24 December called?
(4)2 When people usually start decorating the Christmas tree?
……… What is Christmas pudding?
……… Do people drink a lot on Christmas Day?
……… Exercise
In many modern countries, people think of a family as a mother, a father, and their children But this is not the only kind of family group In some parts of the world, a family group has many other members This kind of large family is called an "extended family", or a "joint family" The joint family includes all living relatives on either the mother's or the father's side of the family It is made up of grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins They live together in a large house or in huts built close together Early people probably lived in joint families They had to be part of a large group in order to survive The members of the group helped each other hunt They worked together to protect themselves from dangerous animals and other enemies In China, people lived in joint families When a son married, he and his wife lived at his parents' home Unmarried daughters remained at home until they married In India and Africa, some people still live in joint families The members of a family share their earnings and property If one member of the group becomes ill or has bad luck, the others help the person As in the past, the members of the joint family offer each other help and protection
1 There is only one kind of family group (True or False?)
……… What does It (line 7) refer to?
……… Why did people live in joint families long ago?
……… When did daughters in China leave home?
……… On the whole, this story is about
a People lived together in order to survive b People did not build so many houses then c They thought it brought bad luck to live alone Exercise
(5)smoke
1 Is secondhand smoke the smoke from other people's cigarette?
……… What did scientists discover recently?
……… Where can't we avoid secondhand smoke?
……… Why is it hard for children to avoid secondhand smoke in the United States? ……… What are some effects of secondhand smoke on children?
………
Exercise
Humans have long been interested in outer space, and have wondered if there are intelligent life-forms on other planets, which we might be able to contact Naturally, we have all seen space creatures on our TV and cinema screens, but "aliens" like these owe more to the convenience of using human actors to play the parts than to any real form of scientific investigation
However, many serious space researchers are now beginning to turn their attention to the question of what alien life might actually look like One early result in Arnold The Alien, designed by a biologist, Dougal Dixon This strange being, unlike humans, has its eyes, ears, legs and arms in groups of three instead of pairs but its behaviour is not very different from ours What have humans long been interested in?
……… What does "aliens" refer to?
……… Who was Arnold The Alien designed by?
……… How many eyes does Arnold The Alien have?
………
Exercise 10
APlan for London Traffic
London, like so many big cities, has traffic problems that seem to get worse every year Tom Jenkins, a London bus-driver, was asked what he would to improve the situation if he was put in charge of London transport This is what he said, If you put me in charge of London transport, I'd make a number of changes I'd ban private cars from central London between 7.30 am and 6.30 pm unless the owner actually lived in the area I'd build a lot of new, cheap car parks near the railway stations on the outskirts of London, so that people could leave their cars there and travel to and from work by train I'd fix a standard fare for all bus or tube journeys in the centre, and I'd make it possible for people to buy ten or dozen tickets at one time Then the buses and taxis would be able to move much more quickly and easily, and life would become more comfortable for everyone"
1 What would Tom about private cars?
………
2 Why would he build new car parks near the railway station on the outskirts of London?
(6)3 What would he about fare?
……… What other changes would he like to make regarding tickets?
……… What effect would these changes have?
……… ANSWER KEY
PART I
Ex
1 England is the largest part
2 It is English (the official language in Britain is English) The national language in the United States of America is also
English
4 The English people did
Ex
1 It's situated in the mountains of Italy
2 It's situated in the Pyreness, between France and Spain Both French and Spanish stamps are sold
4 because Andora has under the joint protection of France and Spain for nearly 700 years
5 Both are one of the world's smallest countries both are in the mountain and the stamps of both countries are eagerly bought by the collectors
Ex
l They predict that before long all schools and businesses and most families in the rich parts of the world will own a computer of some kind
2 They arouse strong feelings (people either love them or hate them)
3 Computers bring fear unemployment
4 Their biggest fear is that computers may eventually take over from human beings altogether
Ex4
1 Man has always depended on plants for food and many other useful products
2 He must know how to plant seeds and raise crops
3 When he discovered how to grow his own food and could be reasonably sure of his food supply
4 He has used animals and complicated machines to make his work easier
(7)1 Because wherever she went, she was fortunate enough to find people who knew English enough to be able to understand what she wanted
2 In a charming small restaurant in southern Italy
3 Because she had seen some nice ones (mushrooms) in another village market and thought they would taste very good
4 She drew a mushroom
5 Because he misunderstood: the mushroom that she drew looked like an umbrella
Ex
1. (It is called) Christmas Eve 2. About a week before Christmas
A dark, rich mixture of flour, fruit, sugar, nuts, and brandy Yes, they
Ex l.F
2. It refers to the joint family or extended family
3. Because they had to be part of a large group in order to survive 4. When they married
5. A Ex8
1 Yes, it is
2 They discovered that even nonsmokers had unhealthy amount of the toxic chemicals of the smoke in their bodies
3 Because almost all of us breathe tobacco smoke at times, whether we realise it or not in restaurants, hotels and other public places
4 Because many children live in homes with at least one smokers The children of smokers are more than twice as likely to develop
lung cancer when they are adults as children of nonsmokers
Ex
1 Humans have long been interested in outer space "Aliens" refers to space creatures
3 Arnold The Alien was designed by a biologist - Dougal Dixon Arnold The Alien has three eyes
Ex 10
1 He'd ban private cars from central London between 7.30 am and 6.30 pm unless the owner actually lived in the area So that people could leave their cars there and travel to and
from work by train
3 He'd fix a standard fare for all bus or tube journeys in the centre He'd make it possible for people to buy ten or dozen tickets at
one time
(8)